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2. How to accelerate lead quality and conversions
with content marketing optimization
April 26, 2012
1:00 PM ET
Sponsored by:

3. Speakers
Kaci Bower
Senior Research Analyst, MECLABS
Kaci.Bower@MECLABS.com
@kacibower
W. Jeffrey Rice
Senior Research Analyst, MECLABS
Jeffrey.Rice@MECLABS.com
@wjeffreyr
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4. Join the conversation on Twitter
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5. A research-based webinar
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6. Webinar content follows rigorous research
• Annual research cycle
•Industry research surveys
•Case studies and articles
•Identify best practices
•Formulate methodologies
•Actionable training
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7. Benchmark Research Library – since 2008
• The collective wisdom of more
than 48,000 marketers
• Nearly 5,000 pages of analytical
commentary and marketer
insights
• More than 6,000 charts and data
tables to validate what’s working
– and what’s not – in marketing
today
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8. Today, we’re going to discuss:
1. Key findings about content marketing from research into
1,530 search marketers
2. Five steps ( 5 P’s) to improve lead quality and conversions
with content marketing optimization
3. Two case studies showcasing examples of content
marketing optimization tactics to build traffic, generate
leads and drive revenue
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9. Research background
1,530 search marketers were
surveyed on:
– Challenges and goals for search
marketing programs
– Growing shift to inbound marketing
– Popularity, effectiveness and
difficulty per SEO tactic
– Role of content in SEO programs
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10. Key finding: Content creation most effective – and most difficult
Sphere size indicates level of usage
60%
• Content creation
50%
Content stands apart in cluster
creation
Keyword and
of SEO tactics
keyphrase
Title tags SEO
research
40% landing
pages
• Most effective at
External
Level of Effectiveness
Meta URL
structure
link building achieving marketing
description
30%
tags
Digital
asset Social objectives
optimization media
Internal integration Blogging
linking
20% • Also the most difficult
Competitor tactic in terms of time,
Benchmarking
10% money and effort
required
0%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Degree of Difficulty
Source: ©2011 MarketingSherpa Search Marketing Benchmark Survey
Methodology: Fielded April 2011, N=1,530
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11. Key finding: Marketers are using many different content formats
Sphere size indicates level of usage
60%
Customer • Half of marketers
Reviews
surveyed state that
Web
50%
Pages Web pages are very
Webinars/
Wecasts Whitepapers effective in helping
Microsites
them achieve their
40%
Level of Effectiveness
E-newsletters
Case
Studies
marketing objectives
Articles
Blogs
eBooks
• Important to look
30%
Press
Releases
Online beyond Web pages in
Video
Images Social Media Mobile Content content marketing
20%
(other than blogs)
Digital Magazines
optimization efforts
Podcasts
10%
20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Degree of Difficulty
Source: ©2011 MarketingSherpa Search Marketing Benchmark Survey
Methodology: Fielded April 2011, N=1,530
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12. Attendee question:
Can you provide any statistics or results of using content optimization
in terms of lead conversion?
- B. Saltys
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13. Key finding: Content accelerates lead quality and conversions
% Organizations Rating Leads from Organic Search as Highest-Quality
Average Conversion Rate on Organic Traffic
Content creators:
12%
• Convert 28% more
10%
organic traffic
9%
28% lift
7%
• Deem leads from
8%
organic search to be of
6%
the highest quality
more often
4%
• Produce higher-quality
2% leads that are more
likely to convert
16% 20%
0%
NON-CONTENT CREATOR CONTENT CREATOR
We do not use content creation or digital asset We use content creation and digital asset
optimization as SEO tactics. optimization as SEO tactics.
Source: ©2011 MarketingSherpa Search Marketing Benchmark Survey
Methodology: Fielded April 2011, N=1,530
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14. How can organizations mindfully approach the
creation and optimization of their content products?
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15. Content Marketing Optimization
1. Purpose
2. Process
3. People
5. Performance
4. Presentation
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16. But, first, a definition…
Content marketing optimization is a term that describes the marriage of
content strategy and SEO expertise.
“It is the art of understanding exactly what your prospects and customers
need to know, deliberately producing optimized content based on keyword
phrases that are driving organic search traffic and conversions, and then
delivering that optimized content to them in a relevant and compelling way
to grow your business by socializing the content through your
organization’s social networks.”
Sources: Content Marketing Institute; Krista LaRiviere
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17. Content Marketing Optimization
1. Purpose
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18. Set a goal before you start
• Why should you
create a piece of
content?
• What purpose is it
going to serve?
• Don’t take a checklist
approach, thinking
you have to do all
types of content
products
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19. Focus on aligning content with your goals, audience and opportunities
– and let that drive the design and topic.
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20. Poll
• Do you develop content for all 5 stages of the customer engagement
cycle (Awareness, Consideration, Inquiry, Purchase, Retention)?
– Yes
– No
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21. Target content to stages in customer engagement cycle
Customer Engagement Cycle Stage Content Goal
• Raise general awareness of your brand
Awareness
• Increase website traffic
Consideration • Encourage consideration of and active
Inquiry interest in your products and services
• Get prospects to choose you over
Purchase
competitors
Retention • Retain customers
Setting even basic, high-level goals will provide a compass to keep you
on track when you're planning and publishing content.
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22. Example: Think like your ideal customer
Customer Engagement Cycle Stage Questions Asked
Awareness How can I find the best deals on footwear?
Consideration What do I need to consider when purchasing women’s running shoes?
Inquiry What types of running shoes does this company offer?
Purchase Why is it better to purchase from this company over another?
Retention What would make me purchase from this company again?
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23. Content Marketing Optimization
2. Process
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24. Attendee question:
I blog for a very small niche and have trouble finding keywords so I create content
based on my experience (18 years in my field) and what I know will be of use to my
readers. I need a more structured approach. How to go about this ?
- S. Bardot
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25. Plot out a process
Examine social Inventory your existing
conversations to content and compare Develop a gap-closure
define the context of existing content sources plan and create new or
the content demand. against required content. edit existing content.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Gauge the content Outline content Evaluate the Distribute optimized
demand by topics and keywords quality of existing content to your social
keyword area. for which you’re content. networks and give
optimizing and create content consumers
content themes by every opportunity to
month. socialize it.
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26. Gauge the content demand by keyword area
• Enter search terms
related to your business
to bring up additional
keywords, related
search volumes, and
level of competition
• Find greater opportunities by targeting
topics with:
– Relevance to prospects' needs
– Somewhat lower search volumes
– Significantly less competition for rankings
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27. Create content themes by month
• Understand the cyclical nature of
your market so you write for
their mindset at that time
• Assign each month an overall
theme
• Structure content around four
questions: What? Where? Why?
How?
• Answer each of these questions
every week in your content
strategy document
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28. Inventory existing content for repurposing
Existing content Repurpose existing content as
News releases  Rewrite in conversational tone and post on blog
Video of CEO annual meeting  Post video on YouTube
speech  Convert audio to MP3 for downloadable podcast
 Transcribe speech and post on blog
Customer case studies  Create PowerPoint and post on SlideShare
 Record PowerPoint with voiceover as video and post on YouTube
 Post video (YouTube embed code) on blog
PowerPoint presentations  Record with voiceover as video and post on YouTube
 Convert audio to MP3 for downloadable podcast
 Rewrite in conversational tone and post on blog
Self-published articles  Rewrite in conversational tone and post as a blog series
 Record audio to MP3 for downloadable podcast
Outdated blog posts  Rewrite with updated titles, references, etc. and post on blog
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29. Worksheet: Original content development
Format and description of content required Keyword use Date required Assigned to
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30. Content Marketing Optimization
peopl
e 3. People
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31. A page that is “too optimized” can be awkward to read.
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32. Write for people, not search engines
Content creation for SEO
works best when you:
• Understand your target
audience and their
behaviors.
• Heed their preferences for
information discovery,
retrieval, consumption and
sharing
• Address their needs and
interests in your topics and
keywords
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33. Use customer vernacular
• The words organizations use to describe their products and services
may differ from what their target audiences use
• Example: “wireless phone” vs. “cell phone” vs. “mobile phone”
Dominant keyword
choice is still “cell
phone”
The impact of customer language on
search volumes is even greater after
adding the qualifier “best”
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34. Develop relevant and compelling content
Relevant content
• Interesting or useful to search engine user
for a keyword search
• Answers questions, deepens
understanding, expands knowledge
Compelling content
• Goes beyond relevance
• Useful to user at hand -- and those in the
user’s social network
• Shared and used in building relationships
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35. Case study
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36. Case Study: Background
 Experiment ID: Makana Solutions
Location: MarketingSherpa Case Study Library
Test Protocol Number: #CS31765
Research Notes:
Problem: Makana provides subscription-based software that helps
organizations perform sales compensation planning. But few prospects
knew the SaaS solution was available and weren’t actively searching for
it.
Goal: Become a top destination for advice about sales compensation
planning.
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37. Step 1: Content creation
Aim:
• Help prospects answer questions about their sales compensation
planning challenges
Methods:
• Created and offered content based
on best practices for sales
compensation planning
 Sample sales compensation
plans
 Educational webinars
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38. Step 2: Keyword research
Aim:
• Optimize website around high-value search terms
Methods:
• Researched broad and longer-tail
key terms that reflected targeted
searches or specific industry
verticals
• Identified a list of 600 keywords
• Optimized specific web pages
around two or three relevant terms
per page
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39. Step 3: Link building
Aim:
• Boost inbound links to improve search rankings
Methods:
• Identified sites with a high Google
PageRank from which they could
get a link
 Online directories
 Information sites about sales
compensation planning
 News sites to target for their
press release distribution list
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40. Results
First page ranking for key industry search terms
Key performance metrics
Change
after 3 months of adopting strategy
Website traffic + 200%
Lead generation rate + 200%
Lead conversion rate + 100%
Paid search as % of total traffic - 60%
! "We’re very happy with our success, but I’ll be honest and say we haven’t even touched the
potential. The potential is tremendous to be even more successful with the realm of content
we can develop for various verticals. The possibilities just go on and on.“
– Alan Gehring, Marketing Director, Makana Solutions
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41. Content Marketing Optimization
4. Presentation
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42. Conventional wisdom dictates that quality trumps quantity.
While this may hold true in other spheres of life, in SEO you need both.
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43. Focus on both quality and quantity
• Consistently publishing content that is both frequent and
of high quality can lead search engines to rank your page
and site as an authority on the subject.
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44. Quality and quantity content checklist
Do: Don’t:
• Create content that’s well-researched, well- • Focus too much on keyword density
written, and well-received
• Disregard the quality of the writing
• Understand that quality articles make your site
more authoritative and trustworthy • Overlook that search engines have become
more capable of recognizing valuable, quality
• Give search engines fresh content and regular content over content that is hastily produced
updates
• Risk looking like you’re only after title and
• Establish a pattern for content updates to set heading tags by writing articles that are too
expectations and reward visitors short
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45. With the right layout, you can make your content
both search engine- and reader-friendly.
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46. Place keywords carefully
Create attention-grabbing title, using the keyword in the title.
Use sub-headings that include relevant keywords.
Position keywords towards the top of your article, as in the first line or paragraph.
Introduce synonyms for your keyword phrase in the second or third paragraphs.
Repeat your keyword phrase throughout the text –but don’t force!
Use the keyword in links and the image ALT text and captions.
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47. Example of keyword placement
Source: SEOMoz – The Beginners Guide to SEO
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48. Don’t ignore readability
Text blocks Break up blocks of text into subcategories
Paragraphs Restrict paragraphs to five lines
Lists Use bullets, numbering and lists
Sentences Use short sentences
Space Use plenty of white space
Make your links part of your copy, especially if links feature your
Links keyword phrases
Images Use (and tag) images effectively
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49. Choose content formats mindfully
• Never choose content
formats by default – or
because “everyone else is
doing that”
• Identify formats that connect
with your customers
• Decide on formats and
designs that define and give
voice to your brand
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50. Case study
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51. Case Study: Background
 Experiment ID: Eloqua, a marketing automation provider
Location: MarketingSherpa Library
Article ID: #HOW31938
Notes:
Problem: Faced a strong socially savvy Web 2.0 competitor
Solution: Create an independent, comprehensive content marketing
department
Content Goals:
• Fill the top of the sales funnel
• Create customer attention and customer satisfaction
• Develop content to improve SEO
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52. Tactic 1: Be different from the competition
Aim:
• Get noticed by creating a brand identity
based on a design "voice"
Methods:
• Give everything - from whitepapers
to live presentations - a heavier
touch of design and graphics than
might be expected
• Make frequent use of infographics
“[The playful feel is] startlingly unexpected, and it
absolutely without question triggers conversation
because people just aren't used to seeing a playful
side of a B2B brand."
Joe Chernov, VP of Content Marketing, Eloqua
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53. Tactic 2: Brand your content
Aim:
• Create a groundswell of association between
Eloqua and the term "revenue”
Methods:
• Blog referred to as the “revenue blog” and
titled “It’s All About Revenue”
• Slideshare, the hub of Eloqua’s content, is
called the “revenue hub”
• Created video combining playfulness of
Eloqua's brand identity with concept branding
of “revenue performance management”
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54. Tactic 3: Inject creativity into whitepapers
Aim:
• Redesign predictable whitepaper
concept
Methods:
• Splinter large whitepapers into
individual “Grande Guides”
• Cover topics related to core business
and broader issues of interest to Eloqua came up with what it calls its Grande
marketers (think 16 ounces of coffee) Guides. The
promise is it takes about 15 minutes to drink
• Give early recipients (prior to public that coffee and the same amount of time to
read the entire guide.
release) opportunity to be the first to
distribute links to the guides
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55. Tactic 4: Hire a brand journalist
Aim:
• Hire someone to provide content, ideally
independent from marketing control, such as blog
posts, industry trends and other things of interest
to your customers
Methods:
• Hired a “corporate journalist”, not a PR
or Marcom writer
• Looked for someone who could speak
to 90% of untapped market
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56. SEO benefits
Focus on design • SEO value comes more from "For me the SEO value isn't what
sharing content than creating is embedded in the content we
helps content get keyword-rich content, such
create. The value is derived when
other people host, distribute or
noticed – and as a whitepaper, that doesn't talk about our content.”
get distributed or republished
shared by the audience
Joe Chernov
VP of Content Marketing, Eloqua
• Corporate journalist “loaned out” to other venues –
and Eloqua gets a valuable inbound link from these
Links come from media outlets in their corporate reporter's bio
many sources • Larger goal of each Grande Guide is to generate and
nurture links
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57. Results
• $2.5 M in closed business, plus $3.2M in contract stage, from 4 Grande Guides
• “It’s All About Revenue” blog reached Ad Age Power 150 within first year
• People who discover website through content pieces are 21% more likely to
view a product demo, Eloqua’s most desirable lead activity
• Viewers of “The Blog Tree” infographic are 32% more likely to fill out a web
form
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58. Content Marketing Optimization
5. Performance
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59. The more relevant your content, the better your results.
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60. Measure the appeal of your content
• Gauge both the popularity and applicability of your content
• Look at conversion rates of your most desirable lead activities (e.g. view
demo, complete web form, purchase, etc.)
• Look at the impact on search rankings and traffic
• Look at key indicators of subject matter interest, engagement and
relevancy:
– Content downloads
– Content shares
– Comments
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61. In summary
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62. 5 P’s of content marketing optimization
• Set a goal before you start
Purpose • Target content to stages in customer engagement cycle
• Plot out a process
• Gauge the content demand by keyword area
Process • Create content themes by month
• Inventory existing content and create a gap closure plan
• Write for people, not search engines
People • Use customer vernacular
• Develop relevant and compelling content
• Focus on both quantity and quality
• Place keywords carefully
Presentation • Don’t ignore readability
• Choose content formats mindfully
Performance • Measure the appeal of your content
#sherpawebinar

63. Attendee question:
Are there new best practice tactics in relation to overall content
strategy impacting social strategy?
- K. Owens
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64. Register to receive a complementary website analysis! *limited to the first 50
http://www.slingshotseo.com/contact/free-seo-opportunity-assessment/
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65. #sherpawebinar

66. Kaci Bower W. Jeffrey Rice
Senior Research Analyst, Senior Research Analyst,
MECLABS MECLABS
Kaci.Bower@MECLABS.com Jeffrey.Rice@MECLABS.com
@kacibower @wjeffreyr
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